CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSSOn 1 November 1942, the First Battalion 5th Marines crossed the Matanikau River and attacked Japanese positions in the vicinity of Point Cruz. A platoon of machine gunners from D/1/5 supported C/1/5’s assault on a deadly strongpoint, and in the process were cut to pieces. Corporal Lewis R. Robarts was among those killed in this action.

The following day, thirty Marines from 1/5 were buried in the field at a site 400 yards west of Point Cruz and 600 yards from the beach. Only seven were recovered after the battle; the remainder, including Corporal Robarts, were classed as non-recoverable.

INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONSPurple Heart

LAST KNOWN RANKCorporal

STATUS OF REMAINSBuried in the field.“about 400 yards West of Point Cruz, about 600 yards inland from the sea.”

Biography:
Coming soon. Contact the webmaster for information on this Marine.

“So we get about 100 yards past the [Matanikau] River and the real fighting begins. If those snipers were hot before, they were sizzling now. It was awful. We’re setting up this machine gun and the place is alive with Japs. They’re popping out everywhere. They had their guns all over the place, their mortars out front, and the shells were whizzing around us like bees. I get a sting in my right leg – it’s a piece of shrapnel – it burns like anything – but I’m so excited, I hardly notice it.

Boy, the Japs gave it to us! They weren’t fooling. They got every one of my fourteen men, killed or wounded them – every one except me!

I tried to help them. They were my men. I picked up my squad leader [Corporal Robarts]. He was sure hit bad all right. He’d been shot right through the stomach. I picked him up: he tried to say something to me, then he died right in my arms. His mouth suddenly began to gush blood, his eyes started to stare, without winking, and I knew he was dead. I felt his pulse, but I couldn’t feel anything.

– Corporal Tony Casamento, D/1/5,

“The Human Target: The Story of Corp. Anthony Casamento, USMC” in Out in the Boondocks: Marines In Action In The Pacific by James D. Horan and Gerold Frink.

Articles and Records:

Excerpt from the 5th Marines Record of Events as it appeared in Phase V of the Division Commander’s Final Report on Guadalcanal.

Excerpt from the muster roll of D/1/5, November 1942.

The Palm Beach Post, 13 December 1942. Robarts is incorrectly eulogized as a private.

A rough approximation of the 1/5 burial site, where thirty Marines were buried on 2 November 1942.

The approximate location of the burial site today – “about 400 yards west of Point Cruz and 600 yards inland from the sea.” The area is now a residential neighborhood in Honiara.